Why aren't dog bone wrenches popular nowadays?

[cherrybomb]

It's one tool if you own one,and your mechanic friends come over,you hide it.They might start to talk about you.

 

[Ton ton]

It's one tool if you own one,and your mechanic friends come over,you hide it.They might start to talk about you.

Thank you for the tip.

 

[redragoon]

Dogbone wrenches have no use for working on cars or anything that requires serious torque.

However, they are fantastic to keep by my table saw and grinder. I use them to loosen and tighten the various sized bolts on the tool rests and saw adjustments. These don't need to be torqued into place, and I'd rather not have several wrenches laying around out of the toolbox.

 

[dnschmidt]

Well maybe because they ****!

 

[subroc]

Because they ****. While working you put it down for a sec, then you are in the process of finding your size again.

I just try to use the right tool for the job.

At 66 years, my experience is that tools that try to do many things do none of them well.

YMMV

 

[bonneyman]

Dog bones might be worth something if I could keep the dog from hiding them in the dirt.

 

[M6erfan]

Were they ever 'popular'? At least with people that are actually familiar with tools?

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

I got one branded Tiger Wrench as seen on tv for Christmas one year. I threw it in the truck box and don’t think I’ve touched it. And it’s 12 point so it’s pretty much guaranteed to round off stuff especially drain plugs and such. I can’t say I’ve ever seen one being used either.

 

[kelpaso1]

Because they are cheap cast junk?

 

[Rinspeed]

I wouldn't use one if it were free, for oil changes or any other task.

 

[RTM]

While working you put it down for a sec, then you are in the process of finding your size again.

I have one tool that is similar, an angle finder for sharpening. I have color coded the preferred size (30°) with a red sharpie, so I can find it fast, rather than get it into good enough light to read the sizes. Saw others do it with common close sized tools, red blue green, for goldilocks things.

 

[bobg03]

As a kid in the 60's they were great for a bicycle, coupled with a small 4" adjustable and a keychain screwdriver from Stanley that had a regular flat head and half of the phillips on the other end to adjust cables and deraileurs one could effect most roadside repairs.

 

[Al Borland]

one of the Epsilons* that my office sends out has one in his toolbag. It's fun to watch him struggle with it. That's why I got it for him.


* See "Brave New World."

 

[AJHD]

Why were they EVER popular? Makes no sense to me. It's a gimmick. We had them on the oil change carts at the first shop I worked at as a lube tech. Never used or touched them. I refused.

I just don't get the point. Even the cheapest HF wrench set is better and likely cheaper too.

Leatherman style multi-tools aside... Tools that designed to be multi-purpose rarely excel (or are even good) at a single one of their intended uses/purposes. And even Leatherman style multi-tools have their faults and limitations.

/ End rant

 

[ARFLY]

Yep they were a gimmick. Craftsman even had the ratcheting dog bone wrench. Now that was something!

 

[cherrybomb]

Yep they were a gimmick. Craftsman even had the ratcheting dog bone wrench. Now that was something!

Watch at your local HF,come christmas time,oh boy,can't wait.

 

[demarpaint]

As a kid I recall tightening a wheel on a bike and snapping a dog bone wrench. The garbage metal broke nice and clean. A POS summed up the wrench nicely.

 

[m6z]

Maybe Snap-on can modernize it. Forged, made in the USA, $200?

 

[Draftpick1]

Not a true dog bone but gear wrench quad box has served me well in low to medium torque uses. Like others have said they are short and don’t have a lot of leverage and not ideal in tight conditions, but the quad box is useful and more compact vs the c-man dogbone. I thought It was gimmicky till I used on that saved me a trip down a long latter, good if you forgot a wrench or need a second one, dropped one etc, you can’t have everything with you at all times and don’t always have a big tool box a couple feet away at all times.

 

[Corndoggeh]

I keep this handy tool hanging on the wall in my shop, just in case...

I'm not sure if that is Japanese, or Chinese writing on the package, but it came from the "100 Yen store" in Japan about 15 years ago.

It has a little bit of a dog bone shape to it.

The writing is Japanese. Japanese has a lot of curves and a brush look to it. Chinese is very sharp and jagged with almost no curves and Korean seems to have a mix of both.

 

[Ton ton]

Not a true dog bone but gear wrench quad box has served me well in low to medium torque uses. Like others have said they are short and don’t have a lot of leverage and not ideal in tight conditions, but the quad box is useful and more compact vs the c-man dogbone. I thought It was gimmicky till I used on that saved me a trip down a long latter, good if you forgot a wrench or need a second one, dropped one etc, you can’t have everything with you at all times and don’t always have a big tool box a couple feet away at all times.

I like those quad box wrenches.

 

[ARFLY]

Here are some Craftsman dog bone wrenches and a couple that are in the same category. There is a universal dog bone and the ratcheting dog bones in metric and SAE. The universal figure eight wrenches are basically dog bones as are the Craftsman universal flip wrenches.

 

[Mallen]

Problem with this is the leverage. Dog bone wrenches are only ~10". Oil plugs and oil filter housings are often fairly [over]tight. Most drain plugs also have torque specs of around 20ish foot pounds. You can use it for LOFs but a ratchet and a handful of sockets on a rail is more practical.

I see that as an advantage when tightening them.